Shooting Yourself

Every once in a while I have to put myself in front of the camera and shoot myself. This is difficult to do. Not from a framing standpoint; that's easy since my camera lets me flip the screen around. The audio's pretty simple too. Starting the recording is not hard either. It's acting that's difficult.


Shooting Myself

The first major problem is that my mind is typically on the things I'm thinking about behind the camera: How's the framing? Where am I going to cut? Was that pause too long? Did I miss a word? Is the microphone picking up that person over there?

All those questions make it really hard to keep the lines you have memorized in mind. And I don't have anyone telling me that I'm doing okay, to keep trying, that it's only tape. I am pegged with all the frustrations of filming.

The second issue is that I can't really find other angles to cut to. When I shoot an interview, I make certain I get it from a few different angles so I can cut if they ever mess up. I don't have the option of simply changing the angle if I mess up.

Today proved the third issue that can arise: You don't want to disturb others if there is anyone around. It's one thing to get over yourself and talk into a camera by yourself... it's something completely different to just start preforming with someone across the cube wall from you. It's something even more if you keep messing up.

So, yes, the joys of capturing yourself on tape. The lesson that I need to still learn is to relax, it's only a movie, a video clip. The only other big advantage you can give yourself is to get over yourself, throw your pride to the wind and just shoot the thing.

~Luke Holzmann
Your Media Production Mentor